CX 12 fan club

[SlimHeilpern]

That is strange and puzzling. Is that for sure the only reed that's misbehaving with the covers attached?

The reason I ask is that with no covers, there's also no slide. A common CX12 issue is slide alignment, which can be off if the slide isn't pushed in all the way to the plastic button, but usually the symptom there would be airiness, not pitch. Just throwing this out there because I can't think of anything else at the moment :-).

- Slim

[Grizzly]

What does it sound like re-assembled, but without the back spring?

Tom

[Gatty1010]

E# is the only misbehaving note. All other notes are loud and bright. Without the back plate, slightly better, but not as good as without the cover. With back plate, worse. It still shows F on my tuner, but lowered between E & F. I can tune it up further, but to me this seems to be some other issue, which I am not able to figure out....

[Gatty1010]

One thing I noticed, this E# note takes more power to blow despite the gap adjustments. I can feel the air leakage is more while blowing, as compared to the adjacent C# and G# blow notes. I am not sure, but could this be due to windsaver on the adjacent draw reed in the same slot? Something I haven't really thought about so far... will replace the windsaver of adjacent reed and see if that changes anything!

[harp_unstrung]

definitely a mystery - though one of the techs in the forum once posted that the CX12 housing may effect the tuning of the instrument somewhat, this goes a bit beyond however - try taking the reed plates off the comb if you have not done so - I once took a CX12 apart and actually found what looked like dust pussies inside - I believe this was from leaving it upright out of the case (I have since changed my habits ... ) - good luck - post a sound clip if you are inclined/able to do so.

[llumagsara]

 have you seen with a magnifying glass and light into the cover-mouthpiece in the place where the slide fits?

good health

Agustín

[Gatty1010]

have you seen with a magnifying glass and light into the cover-mouthpiece in the place where the slide fits?

good health

Agustín

I think you have got this. Can you please elaborate? I play with slider flipped...so my harmonica is basically C#....so slider out means all sharp notes ..

I can see that with slight manipulation of slider (pushing it further in), this hole opens up with a pop and no air leakagevafter that...the note sounds full and round post that.pitch improves as well..l ....I am not really sure, but it has something to do with the slider.

I have another slider too, which isn't flipped. Tried with that,but cannot push it in further..because to play this E# note the slider  is already pushed in to the max.

Could there be an alignment issue with the slider for this particular hole? I hope we are closer to solving the mystery 

[Gatty1010]

- try taking the reed plates off the comb if you have not done so - I once took a CX12 apart and actually found what looked like dust pussies inside -

That's basic, that was the first thing i checked. No such issues here. I did open reed plates also to check Reed centering. I think something to do with slider alignment for this particular hole in the mouthpiece, but need to confirm.

[Grizzly]

The slider is a good clue. If it doesn't seat properly when pushed in, it messes with those notes. Make sure it pushes all the way in. If not, fool around with it until it does.

Tom

[Scotty]

Gatty: occasionally, I've found that one of my cx-12's in particular simply doesn't seat properly within the shell (I don't call them covers for the cx-12 for obvious reasons - since it's a single piece). SO, I disassemble again, warm the shell thoroughly under hot running water, dry off thoroughly then with two fingers of one hand 'stretch' the inside to ensure the body of the chromatic plops in and seats itself as it should. It's usually quite obvious when it's exactly right. Only at that point can I put on the backspring and slide - which wouldn't go in all the way earlier. I do have a feeling that your method of flipping the slide is somehow messing with this 'seating properly', or perhaps creating burrs? Maybe a light rubbing down of the sides of the slide with an emery board or nail file then wiping it thoroughly could solve this?

Alternatively, there's a possibility you might have overtightened a couple of the reedplate screws at that end of the chromatic - which could be causing this particular note to play 'off' when reassembled. Have you also checked the coil spring beneath the button? (I push mine up to ensure it's not loose, each time I disassemble) and ensure the white 'cross' is firmly seated in place. You have looked to see if there are any cracks - either in the comb or shell? (just tossing out ideas in case something helps).

Good luck!

scotty 

[llumagsara]

have you seen with a magnifying glass and light into the cover-mouthpiece in the place where the slide fits?

good health

Agustín

I think you have got this. Can you please elaborate? I play with slider flipped...so my harmonica is basically C#....so slider out means all sharp notes ..

I can see that with slight manipulation of slider (pushing it further in), this hole opens up with a pop and no air leakagevafter that...the note sounds full and round post that.pitch improves as well..l ....I am not really sure, but it has something to do with the slider.

I have another slider too, which isn't flipped. Tried with that,but cannot push it in further..because to play this E# note the slider  is already pushed in to the max.

Could there be an alignment issue with the slider for this particular hole? I hope we are closer to solving the mystery 

I just thought if there could be some irregularity in the plastic channel, from some time the slide has been placed misaligned and produced the air leak...   

good health

Agustín

[SlimHeilpern]

While this forum was down, my Kongsheng "boogie.man" model arrived. Here's what I had to say about in a Facebook group (with a minor edit here):

I'm wondering if anyone else has played Kongsheng's poorly named "Boogie.Man" CX-12 copy.

Mine arrived today and first off: it's not an exact copy. Secondly, it seems to be an improvement over the CX-12 in my view. The slide doesn't clack nearly as much (might have to do with their more conventional approach to the spring). The mouthpiece shape is somewhere in between the CX-12 and the CX-12 Jazz model. The back leaf spring is easier to work with once you realize that you need to slide it to the right to disengage (it won't slide to the left). And, so far, the windsavers are all behaving as they should. The tone, volume, and air-tightness are very, very similar to the CX-12.

One other not-so-minor point: currently $69 plus tax at AliExpress, $70 at Rockin' Ron's.

I've accumulated many, many Hohner CX-12s over the years but those that I purchased over the last 10 years or so (following some manufacturing changes) have mostly been a disappointment. I've always loved the tone, but windsaver distortion (often right out of the box) had become so problematic that I stopped playing them for the most part. For this reason I feel no guilt in trying the Kongsheng version -- seems like they may have improved on the design (time will tell) while Hohner went the opposite way.

- Slim

[Bernie9]

Thanks for the update. Slim. I will be most interested to see if you remain positive.

Bernie

[ejacob4]

That's basic, that was the first thing i checked. No such issues here. I did open reed plates also to check Reed centering. I think something to do with slider alignment for this particular hole in the mouthpiece, but need to confirm.
[/quote]

I’d flip it back over and see if that note plays normally. If it don’t, well at least it’s an old problem.

Best regards,
Ed

[HUGO]

Miking my CX-12 differently than before (Sennheiser MD441 off to my left side) and running it through a fairly nice signal chain, I'm quite taken with its' tone on playback. The honky, plasticky tone I hear acoustically comes across as a nice wind instrument on recordings. Attaining that has been a long time coming!

 I've always enjoyed the action and feel of playing this model and since I seem to be avoiding the instruments' oft noted valve issues (knocking on wood as I type) it's become a daily player.

 The final issue I still face with this harmonica is; as a "dry player" I find it difficult to keep the Black Housing lubricated.  As I don't have that problem with some of the more expensive harmonicas in my collection i.e. Symphony, Nonslider and the impossibly slick - Meisterklasse, I believe I can circumvent this issue by replacing the original housing with say a Gold or, Jazz housing.  I found the Gold CX-12s' housing more lip friendly for me when  I briefly sampled one once.

 My questions for my fellow SM contributors are:
* Are both of these housings compatible with a standard (CX-12C) CX-12?
* Which of the two would you consider to be slicker?

Thank you

HUGO

[Age]

Yeah, Hugo,
As another dry player, that's one of the things I actually like about my CXGold; it's slick!

[Grizzly]

* Are both of these housings compatible with a standard (CX-12C) CX-12?

Yes.

Tom

[HUGO]

Yeah, Hugo,
As another dry player, that's one of the things I actually like about my CXGold; it's slick!

Great to hear, about the CX-12 being slick, that is!

Thanks for weighing in Age.

[HUGO]

* Are both of these housings compatible with a standard (CX-12C) CX-12?

Yes.

Tom

Thanks Tom, good to know from the CX Meister himself, no less!

[HUGO]

I just transferred the comb assembly from my Darth Vader model to the new Gold housing and find the fit perfect and the finish wonderfully slick!

 Thanks again Tom and Age for your contribution to this effort.

- HUGO

[HUGO]

CX-12 GOLD REED-PLATES: DO THEY REQUIRE BREAKING IN?

I just swapped out the Reed-Plates (RP) from my CX-12 Tenor with CX-12 Gold RPs'. The pitch variation I see of 12 or, so cents - & + from the  center point of the 440 tuning on my chromatic tuner matches what I hear (totaling 24 cents). My CX-12 C  & Seydel Symphony both stay closer to center point of the tuner (totaling 12 cents) and I hear that too.

 Comparing the RPs'  of the two when I swapped them out, I noticed the Golds were, as advertised, thicker.

 As these particular RPs' are new to me, I wonder if someone with experience with them could shed some light on whether or, not this is only part of the breaking in time or, should I be looking at altering them.

Thank you in advance

- HUGO

[Grizzly]

Hi Hugo, I've never bothered to break in any reedplates on any chromatic harmonica. I do have some comments on CX 12 reedplates, however.

Hohner in their supreme wisdom tunes harmonicas (or did, years back) to A=444. The reeds may change over time, but it would take a long while. Any of my harmonicas that I play with others needed retuning. Further, some of my CX 12s varied greatly in tuning, even on the same harmonica, from 438 to 447. Really bad quality control.

As for plate thickness, the Golds were always thicker than the standard. The Tenors were originally made with the thicker reedplates, unacknowledged and unadvertized, but in later years the reedplates were thinner.

Tom

[HUGO]

Hi Tom

You response is most helpful and appreciated.

I must then have one of the later model Tenors with the thinner RPs' then and should attend to the poor tuning of these new RPs'.  Ok, my course is set!

- HUGO

[HUGO]

~ FRANKEN-CX ~

My creation from different body, er, harmonica parts:
* A comb & slider from my CX-12 Tenor
* A Gold housing from Hohner
* Reed-plates from a vendor

The RPs' will be shipped out for tuning by Gnarly Heman.

I'm a fan of the stock version of this harmonica and find the full sounding RPs' and slick mouth piece of the Gold model even more to my liking. Anxiously looking forward to it all coming together!

 Thank you to all the SlideMeisters who helped me to reach this point of satisfaction in my harmonica playing. Be it with direct responses to my queries or, from the wealth of achieved information a mere mouse click away.

- HUGO

[wolfman]

That's a good Man,that Gnarly Heman.

  Roman

[Age]

The only thing I ever did to my CXGold was change valves (which did nothing. BTW )

[Grizzly]

~ FRANKEN-CX ~

My creation from different body, er, harmonica parts:
* A comb & slider from my CX-12 Tenor
* A Gold housing from Hohner
* Reed-plates from a vendor

The RPs' will be shipped out for tuning by Gnarly Heman.

I'm a fan of the stock version of this harmonica and find the full sounding RPs' and slick mouth piece of the Gold model even more to my liking. Anxiously looking forward to it all coming together!

 Thank you to all the SlideMeisters who helped me to reach this point of satisfaction in my harmonica playing. Be it with direct responses to my queries or, from the wealth of achieved information a mere mouse click away.

- HUGO

Nice combo, Hugo. Assuming the reedplates are CX 12s, with everythng else also CX 12, maybe it's more a sibling than Franken. I've done similar things: a tenor into a gold casing, swapped out into a white casing for my Santa Claus gig. I like the gold casing, too, but my motivation is for the look. Other mods are a taped slide, and a slide I peaned along the edges, to make one more airtight and the other to take the slop out to make it quieter. Neither made much difference.

Tom

[HUGO]

The only thing I ever did to my CXGold was change valves (which did nothing. BTW )

Good to know!

Thanks for the tip.

[HUGO]

~ FRANKEN-CX ~

My creation from different body, er, harmonica parts:
* A comb & slider from my CX-12 Tenor
* A Gold housing from Hohner
* Reed-plates from a vendor

The RPs' will be shipped out for tuning by Gnarly Heman.

I'm a fan of the stock version of this harmonica and find the full sounding RPs' and slick mouth piece of the Gold model even more to my liking. Anxiously looking forward to it all coming together!

 Thank you to all the SlideMeisters who helped me to reach this point of satisfaction in my harmonica playing. Be it with direct responses to my queries or, from the wealth of achieved information a mere mouse click away.

- HUGO

Nice combo, Hugo. Assuming the reedplates are CX 12s, with everythng else also CX 12, maybe it's more a sibling than Franken. I've done similar things: a tenor into a gold casing, swapped out into a white casing for my Santa Claus gig. I like the gold casing, too, but my motivation is for the look. Other mods are a taped slide, and a slide I peaned along the edges, to make one more airtight and the other to take the slop out to make it quieter. Neither made much difference.

Tom

Yes, Tom, I neglected to mention that the new Reed-plates are indeed CX-12 Gold, the phatties.
Nice to know about the mods you made as well as the results.
White housing for a Santa gig, hm,mm, maybe now, with my gold housing, I can look into that Goldilocks casting call?

- HUGO

[Grizzly]

Ooh, gold! How about the myth about the Midas Touch? (Be careful what you wish for.)

Tom